Netflix

Last weekend saw a lot of press for the new Netflix Cyber-Punk series, Altered Carbon. The new futuristic murder mystery show premiered on Netflix and commercials for it ran during the Super Bowl, including the show’s trailer. Now, Skydance Television and Lakeshore Records have released the Original Series Soundtrack for the show.

The Altered Carbon Original Soundtrack features 11 tracks from Fargo composer Jeff Russo. In addition to the original score, the album includes three songs including a cover of the Johnny Cash standard “Ain’t No Grave” performed by ALTERED CARBON star Renée Elise Goldsberry (Quellcrist Falconer) and Sune Rose Wagner’s performance of White Zombie’s “More Human Than Human”.

“We wanted to play the emotional undercurrent of the story so we decided not to be too on the nose as far as the sci-fi aspect. In ALTERED CARBON, human bodies are interchangeable. So in this story, the idea of playing the core of a person becomes very important. I wanted to make sure to create thematic motifs that could be used to keep track of who was who in the ever-changing landscape of the story.” – Jeff Russo, Composer

Lakeshore Records has released the ALTERED CARBON – Original Netflix Series Soundtrack digitally. You can pick it up on iTunes or streaming on Spotify.

On June 30, 2017, Lakeshore Records announced they were taking pre-orders for the upcoming soundtrack to Netflix’s Castlevania. Canadian composer Trevor Morris has written the score and you may recognize his name as he composed the music for Dragon Age: Inquisition, and several notable TV series including The Tudors, The Borgias (whose theme song won an Emmy Award), The Pillars of the Earth and Vikings.

I hadn’t realized that Bloody Disgusting had previewed the series Main Title Theme on June 23, 2017, but in case you missed their article you can check it out here. The music features a wonderful blend of strings, brass, solid percussion and a hint of chorals. What has me very excited about this is that Trevor Morris has mastered composing for historical period pieces which I think is a perfect fit for the world of Castlevania.

The album is available for pre-order digitally on Amazon, iTunes and Apple music here. The soundtrack will be released on CD on August 4, 2017, and was released digitally on July 7, 2017.

Lakeshore Records also revealed the album’s tracklist which you can view by clicking further into this article as to avoid any spoilers. Are you excited for this Netflix Original Series?

If you’re a fan of older science fiction/adventure films such as E.T. and The Goonies with a horror twist of Stephen King thrown in and you’re not yet watching Netflix’s series Stranger Things, then you probably should be. The show focuses on a early ’80s era “mad science in suburbia gone wrong” theme that really drives home the nostalgia. I’m only two episodes in and I’m hooked with the suspense and questions that float around the small town it’s centered in.

One of the great things about the series is it’s original music. Each episode is peppered with classic tunes from the ’70s and ’80s that you’d typically hear in that decade. However the show’s score, purported to be composed by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of the band S U R V I V E, drips of eerie synths and creepy vibes not unlike a John Carpenter score. The show’s opener alone has flavors of Halloween about it. Now, it sounds like those of us hooked on said music will be able to purchase it via soundtrack.

Great news for series fans and those of us who love a good ’80s horror cinema score. We’ll keep you posted on when a release date is announced and where to find the Stranger Things soundtrack when it goes live.

What do you think of Stranger Things’ soundtrack? Does it fall in line with other scores of the era it represents? What are your favorite scores that you think helped inspire it? Let us know!

Last week there was a rumour circulating that Netflix has plans to produce a family friendly game of thrones style series based on The Legend of Zelda. Neither Netflix or Nintendo has made any official statement to confirm if this is true but if it does happen there will be treasure trove of new Zelda music produced for the series.

The best music ever created for a live action version of Zelda was the brief score Stuart Balcomb wrote for IGN Entertainment’s 2008 April Fool’s trailer produced by Rainfall. The music from that trailer is available for a free download from the composer’s website and may help you get by until the music from the new series arrives.

Do you have any thoughts on who should write the music for the series?

Covering and promoting discussion of composers and music with a focus on video games and other contemporary media entertainment

Upcoming Events

VGM CON (Video Game Music) is a video game convention in Minneapolis that celebrates all video games and their art, music, development, and narrative through experiences you can’t find at home. Gamer’s Rhapsody is the...

Join the game industry’s top audio professionals to share knowledge and experience from the real-world addressing audio’s unique aesthetic, technical, business, and logistical problems. To choose from all Audio sessions in GDC Summits, VRDC@GDC and...